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Actress Nicollette Sheridan, whose "Desperate Housewives" character was killed off in early 2009, is suing the show's creator for more than $20 million, alleging assault and battery, gender violence and
wrongful termination, TMZ and others report.

Sheridan alleges that on Sept. 24, 2008, after she questioned something in a script, Marc Cherry took her aside and "forcefully hit her with his hand across the face and head," according to People, then fired her a few months later in retaliation for complaining about him.

She says she'd gone to ABC about the incident but that no action was taken.

“While we have yet to see the actual complaint, we investigated similar claims made by Ms. Sheridan last year and found them to be without merit," ABC Studios said Monday.

The suit paints a picture of Cherry as someone who'd turn hostile of his authority when questioned, EW.com reports -- and it also may shine a different light on quotes from Sheridan and Cherry that were highlighted on our Show Tracker blog in April 2009.

Turns out Sheridan ran her mouth off to TV Guide, and her reps were
doing preemptive damage control.

In the magazine's latest issue, the actress said in no uncertain
terms that "Housewives" had lost its mojo: “When the show started it was
such a different beast. It was exciting and dangerous and funny and
edgy and bizarre. [Then] it started feeling a little complacent, and
that was very frustrating.” Sheridan also complained that Edie never got
enough attention from the writers. “When you have a jewel, why not
polish it and put it out there for all to see?” she said.

Cherry, of course, had a different take, telling the magazine that
Edie had run her course: "Edie's already slept with most of the guys on
the street and has caused about as many problems as she could." Then he
struck where we're sure it hurt: "We will find a new kind of sexiness
coming through Wisteria Lane. What I won’t do is cast another
fortysomething sexy blonde. [Sheridan] performed the aging neighborhood
tramp better than anyone has ever done before.”

Make of it what you will -- the court, of course, will decide.

-- Christie D'Zurilla

[For the record, 8:32 p.m.: The headline on an earlier version of this post misspelled Nicollette Sheridan's first name as Nicolette. And that ticks us off, because we know better./cdz]